I speed-read through the article and have a few concerns. While the whales feed on Chinook, I doubt that the NRKWs and SRKWs feed on the same fish. The stocks of salmon go to different places in the N Pacific. For example, that is why some would say that removal of the Snake River dams won't help the PS residents as they don't encounter the Snake Rivers.

That doesn't change the fact that if the whales eat the largest fish that they can have a direct impact if we keep holding the populations down so there are fewer Chinook getting to the large size.

The current estimates are that runs are now 5-10% (at least escapements) of pre-industrial fishing. Wonder what the models would show if you increased the populations to at least 10x current, had no fishing, and looked at the whale's impact. Or, answer the question "At what Chinook population size could we have the current number of whales and current fishery removals?"